Laid-off casino worker buys winning $1M Powerball ticket in Ulster

NAPANOCH — Connecticut resident Michael Lazdauskas had found a calling, and then a girlfriend, in Napanoch. But a few weeks ago, his good fortune grew by $1 million.

Leonard Sparks

NAPANOCH — Connecticut resident Michael Lazdauskas had found a calling, and then a girlfriend, in Napanoch. But a few weeks ago, his good fortune grew by $1 million.

On Jan. 30, the unemployed casino worker and Shanley Hotel volunteer played $6 on three sets of Powerball numbers at James' General Store on Main Street.

The next day, he discovered the last set of five numbers were winners, earning him second prize.

Lazdauskas, accompanied by his girlfriend, Nancy Abril, returned to James' on Friday to accept his winnings from New York Lottery representative, Gretchen Dizer.

The winnings, Lazdauskas said, come just as he is planning to relocate from New London to Napanoch, a hamlet in Ulster County.

"The only thing this is going to change is, instead of renting an apartment, now I'm going to buy a house," said Lsazdauskas, 41, who received a $661,800 lump-sum payment. "This win couldn't have come at a better time."

In September, Lazdauskas was laid off from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, where he had started as a dealer and became a game supervisor.

Twenty years ago, Lazdauskas developed an interest in the paranormal. By 2009, that interest led him to the Shanley Hotel in Napanoch, and he began commuting three hours at least once a week to volunteer at the allegedly haunted hotel.

Although not much of a casino gambler, Lazdauskas did begin buying Powerball tickets during his trips to the Shanley, which is next door to James' General Store. "If I lost $100, I was mad at myself," he said of casino gambling.

Store owner James Dolaway had to fend off customers wanting to know the identity of the winner before Friday's announcement. Others wanted to know if he shared in the winnings. He did not, but Dolaway is winning in other ways.

"It has really increased the sales," he said. "I've seen customers in here I've never seen before."